Knicks snap skid, down Timberwolves, 118-106

Knicks' Raymond Felton, right, lays up a shot as Minnesota Timberwolves' Dante Cunningham looks on in the second half.

MINNEAPOLIS — Carmelo Anthony scored 33 points to help the Knicks snap a seven-game losing streak with a 118-106 victory over the Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

Tyson Chandler had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Amaré Stoudemire added 18 points and eight boards for the Knicks, who had not won since beating New Orleans on Feb. 19.

“I can’t count very many games this year where our perimeter play and our bigs … everything seemed to click,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “Only one game stands out, that was the Orlando game in Orlando where we had everybody back, and the Brooklyn game down in Brooklyn.’’

Kevin Love had 19 points and eight rebounds, but scored just one point in the second half as Minnesota returned from a successful Western trip with a thud. Kevin Martin had 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting and the ’Wolves were 7-for-26 from three-point range.

Raymond Felton had 18 points and eight assists for the Knicks, and J.R. Smith added 14 points, five assists and five rebounds.

The Knicks staggered into the game struggling to hit open shots, and with Woodson again facing questions about his job security.

Timberwolves coaches quietly worried about opening a homestand against a team that had been playing so poorly, fearing that the breakout was coming. They were right.

The Knicks hit eight of their first 10 field goals Wednesday night and went 5-for-7 from three-point range to open up a 38-24 lead after one quarter. The lead swelled to 17 points in the second quarter as New York chewed up Minnesota’s soft interior defense with pick-and-roll lobs to Chandler, a staple of their 54 victories last season, and the Knicks’ confidence continued to soar while they built a 66-55 halftime lead.

The Wolves came into the game after a 4-1 trip that had them primed for one last run at a playoff spot. They trailed the Phoenix Suns by 4½ games for the West’s eighth and final spot, and had home games coming up against the Knicks, Pistons, Raptors and Milwaukee that offered ample opportunity to make up ground.

After such a flat first half, Ricky Rubio and the Wolves came alive in the third quarter, methodically carving into the Knicks’ lead. Nikola Pekovic, who still is working his way back from an ankle injury that kept him out for most of February, asserted himself in the paint.